Samsung settles Rambus case for $900m

Samsung will now license Rambus chip designs for graphics and mobile memory

Electronics giant Samsung has settled its long-running patent dispute with chip design firm Rambus for $900m (£550m).

Under the terms of the deal, announced today, Samsung will invest $200m (£122m) in Rambus stock, make an interim payment of $200m and pay $25m (£15m) a quarter for the next five years.

In return Rambus will drop its legal action, and provide Samsung with licences to use some of its DRAM designs.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to renew a partnership which has created solutions that have benefited consumers worldwide," said Harold Hughes, president of Rambus.

"Bringing together Samsung's market and technology leadership with our innovations for high-performance and high-efficiency memory architectures will make possible an exciting new generation of mobile, computing and consumer electronics products."

The two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding under which Samsung will license Rambus chip designs for new graphics and mobile memory, and may also collaborate on server and high-speed Nand Flash memory in the future.

The settlement leaves Rambus free to concentrate on its other patent disputes with Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor.